Ready Kids East County

First 5 Contra Costa partners with organizations in East County to reform the systems and services available to African American and Black families to improve wellness and help address inequities that contribute to school readiness disparities.

The Ready Kids East County effort, a strategic partnership between First 5 Contra Costa and the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, launched in 2019 and ushered in creative programming, resources, and services available to Black families in East County, with a special focus on Pittsburg.

In this next phase of the work, we plan to move further upstream to build stronger bridges and connections for Black and African American families to existing organizations and agencies to support the wellbeing for Black birthing people and early parental attachment, early literacy and early learning settings for Black children, and basic needs coordination and support for Black families.

 

 

How do we make change?

It truly takes a village to get our children ready for school, and even more so to transform years of under-investment, racist policies, and systemic oppression.

Systems Change

Since its inception, Ready Kids has centered the experience of the community to guide its work. A Design Team composed of local Black leaders, parents, schools, and other community organizations in Pittsburg help guide and shape the effort. First 5 Contra Costa has aimed to create spaces where community members can come together, learn from one another, and build on their collective power to identify solutions and make change.

Building Capacity of Service Providers

This project also offers professional development and training opportunities for a variety of service providers working in East County. More than 100 individuals from a variety of service provider organizations have participated in trainings on anti-bias, anti-racist strategies in early childhood setting to incorporating anti-bias, anti-racist principles into literacy activities with young children. 

Expanding African American/Black-Focused Programming

First 5 Contra Costa has partnered with several service providers to develop or adapt programming to be culturally relevant and responsive to Black and African American families in East County. For example, Tandem, Partners in Early Learning, developed a program called Lil Libraries Around Town which seeks to increase the quantity and quality of literary materials available for Black and/or African American children ages birth to five years old by creating  literacy stations in barber shops.Additionally, First 5 Contra Costa partnered with Counseling Options and Parenting Education to host parent education seminars in East County designed with culturally sensitive topics for Black and African American families and led by culturally relevant instructors.

 

Download the Ready Kids East County Report

To learn more about Ready Kids East County, contact Jessica Keener, Program Coordinator, at jkeener@first5coco.org.

 

Ready Kids East County is in partnership with:

And made possible by generous funding from the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation

The Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation recently celebrated 30 years of being Rooted in Community to advance its mission by believing in the safety, security, and potential of every child, significantly investing in educational opportunities for those underserved, and offering the community the enrichments of the arts—see the celebration video below which includes our Ready Kids East County work.